RMLS of Portland Market Action Report February 2012

February Residential Highlights“While there were fewer active and new listings on the market, sales activity in Metro Portland showed an improvement in both pending and closed sales in February 2012. Also notable in February was a decrease in inventory, down from 7.0 last month and the lowest February inventory since 2007. Closed Sales were up 17.5% in February 2012 compared to February 2011. Pending sales grew 32.5%, and new listings dropped 13.6%. Comparing the previous month of January 2012 with February 2012, closed sales grew from 1,224 to 1,262 (3.1%). Pending sales also increased from 1,823 to 2,109 (15.7%). New listings dropped from 2,613 to 2,492 (-4.6%).”Sale Prices
“Average sale price for February 2012 rose 4.3% compared to February 2011. Median sale price fell 1.3%. Month to month, comparing January 2012 to February 2012, average sale price went up from $249,100 to $255,100 (2.4%) and the median sale price rose from $207,500 to $211,000 (1.7%).”

To view the full RMLS Market Action Report For February 2012 – Click Here

If you’d like to find out more about the Portland real estate market on market conditions in your neighborhood please contact me at 503.477.0759 or browse my website at www.RuthPriceProperties.comThank you for visiting – Ruth Price

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One of the first questions a buyer asks when considering a potential property that’s for sale is how much did the current owners purchase the property for? As both buyers and sellers are trying to adjust the realities of the market I thought it might be good to take a look at where we are now compared to the past. Below are the average sales prices for the last seven years in the City Of Portland.

Here is a look at the real estate market in the Portland Metro Area for the first Quarter of 2009. Though too early to tell how this year will stack up to previous years, some positive signs pointing towards a progression to a more balanced market have emerged. Record low interest rates, large inventory of homes, first time home buyer incentives and good pricing seems to have motivated a lot of buyers to get into the market and make decisions. This decreased inventory levels, kept average sales prices consistent and increased closed and pending sales volume for the first quarter this year.

Please keep in mind that these numbers are combined for all of the Portland Metro Areas. Though this will provide an idea of the condition of the market as a whole, real estate is always localized to individual cities and neighborhoods. Therefore statistics and trends will vary broadly between different areas.

Available Months Of Inventory

This is calculated by dividing the number of homes currently for sale by the number of closed sales in the previous month. What this means is that at the current sales rate with no new homes coming on the market all of the available homes for sale would be absorbed in that particular amount of months. For a balanced market the inventory levels should be somewhere around 6 months. The year started off with 19.2 months in January dropped to 16.6 months in February and in March decreased to 12 months. The higher this number is the more the market is skewed in the buyer’s favor and vise versa for the sellers. With higher inventory buyers have more options therefore putting pressure on the sellers’ prices. With lower available inventory prices tend to stabilize giving seller’s more control.

Closed Sales

There’s been a dramatic increase in closed sales in March vs. February. It’s normal for the numbers to increase as spring approaches however March over February increased at a rate of 38.2%. In January there were 732 closed sales, February 857 sales and in March a total of 1,184 closed sales.

Pending Sales

These are homes that have offers but have not closed escrow. The increase in volume month over months is a sign of a health progression towards the busy seasons of spring and summer. Pending sales in January were 1235, February 1276 and March increased to 1637. The percentage increase in pending sales in March vs. February is higher than the same time last year and as the same time in 2007.

Average Sales Price

Average sales prices have remained steady this year but are still down compared to the same time last year as well as 2007. Average sales prices were as follows: January $297,200, February $298,500 and March $297,000. Two of the biggest contributing factors to lower average sales prices versus the previous years are the mortgage market and first time home buyers. As financing has tightened over the last year and it became more expensive and difficult to obtain larger mortgages it has forced many buyers to look at homes in lower in price ranges. This in turn will put down pressure on average sales prices. First time home buyers getting into the market are also contributing to lower sales prices as a majority first time home buyers tend to buy in the lower price ranges.

If you’d like market data for your neighborhood or have questions please contact me. You may also see the full RMLS Market Snapshot Report by Clicking HERE.